Roy v. City of Everett2/6/1992
from liability for claims based on its "distinct duties under the act".
Roy contends that even if immunity extends to the department or City for claims based on the conduct of individual officers, that immunity does not justify summary judgment of claims where the municipality is liable for conduct independent of its officers. Roy alleges that the municipal defendants are liable for their independent actions in this case, for the breach of "distinct duties" the act imposed on them but did not impose on the peace
officers. She contends that the City and department failed to "create, fund, and monitor appropriate training programs for individual officers or record keeping" systems. Brief of Respondent, at 37; Clerk's Papers, at 590 (complaint paras. 9.4, 9.5). I conclude that Roy is mistaken: discretionary immunity shields the City and department from liability for their alleged failure to "create, fund, and monitor" appropriate educational and record-keeping programs.
When it enacted RCW 4.92.090, the Legislature abolished the doctrine of sovereign immunity and rendered the State liable for damages arising out of its tortious conduct to the same extent as if it were a private person or corporation. Evangelical United Brethren Church v. State, 67 Wash. 2d 246, 252, 407 P.2d 440 (1965). The statute does not, however, render the State liable for every governmental action or make the State a surety for every governmental enterprise. Evangelical United Brethren Church v. State, supra at 253. Government conduct at an executive or administrative level, which involves basic policy decisionmaking and implementation, falls within the scope of immunity and cannot be tortious. Evangelical United Brethren Church v. State, supra at 253-54.
The purpose of discretionary immunity is to ensure "room for basic governmental policy decision and the implementation thereof, unhampered by the threat . . . of . . . tort liability". Evangelical United Brethren Church v. State, supra at 254. We apply a 4-part test when determining whether an act falls within the scope of discretionary immunity:
(1) Does the challenged act, omission, or decision necessarily involve a basic governmental policy, program, or objective? (2) Is the questioned act, omission, or decision essential to the realization or accomplishment of that policy, program, or objective as opposed to one which would not change the course or direction of the policy, program, or objective? (3) Does the act, omission, or decision require the exercise of basic policy evaluation, judgment, and expertise on the part of the governmental agency involved? (4) Does the governmental agency involved possess the requisite constitutional, statutory, or lawful
authority and duty to do or make the challenged act, omission, or decision?
Evangelical United Brethren Church v. State, supra at 255. The discretionary act must involve a basic policy determination and be the product of a considered policy decision. Chambers-Castanes v. King Cy., 100 Wash. 2d 275, 282, 669 P.2d 451, 39 A.L.R.4th 671 (1983). Whether discretionary immunity extends to particular governmental conduct generally is a question of law. Evangelical United Brethren Church v. State, 67 Wash. 2d at 253.
We have, in several cases, addressed whether counties, cities, and police departments are entitled to discretionary immunity. In Chambers-Castanes, at 282, we concluded that the "simple decision whether to dispatch an officer to the scene of a crime or to investigate a crime" did not invol
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